Gifted

  And that’s apparently what’s happened. Too much mutant hatred, too much discord, apparently it’s all crashed down on me abruptly and without warning. (Okay, there was plenty of warning.) Because he’s here, and he cannot be here, so obviously I must have checked out. Or maybe one of those bullets somehow didn’t pass through me and lodged in my brain, and this is what they mean when they say your life passes before your eyes as you’re dying.

  Colossus is passing before my eyes.

  Colossus is coming right at my eyes.

  Colossus is passing through my eyes. Through my phasing body as the bullets continue to blow past me, and then he’s behind me. I hear screaming, and weapons breaking, and more screaming, and bones crunching, and more screaming, and I still can’t move from where I’m standing. My hand comes up of its own accord, rests on my heart. He’s touched my heart, literally, as his upper body went through my chest.

  Then I hear something hit the wall with an awful crunch, and a noise from a throat that sounds horrifyingly close to a death rattle.

  It snaps me out of it, and I whisper, “Peter?”

  He is in the process of shoving one of the guard’s heads against the wall. Cracks are spreading out from the impact point. He’s pushed this guy’s head against the wall with such force that he’s actually shattering the wall. God only knows what it’s doing to the man’s skull.

  Their weapons lie scattered and broken all over the floor. One of the guards is running for his life.

  Is the man Peter’s pounding on still alive? He seems to be, barely.

  “Stop, Peter!” I call.

  Peter pulls him away from the wall, leaving blood smears behind. He lifts the soldier up as if the man weighs nothing, which—to Peter—is pretty much the case. He lifts the man over his head and throws him with such force that it’s terrifying to see. The man collides with his fellow soldier, who’s trying to flee the scene, and they both go down. They sprawl in a heap on the floor, both unconscious, and Peter advances on them, ready to do more damage even though they’re helpless.

  “Peter, stop!” I say again, this time more forcefully. I still don’t understand why or how this is happening, but it is, and I have to deal with the here and now. “You’ll kill them!”

  He turns and looks right at me, and this time he seems to recognize me. The metal on his body dissolves, and the last doubt I had—my fear that this was some sort of robot—dissipates. It’s Peter, standing there in the flesh.

  “Katya?” he whispers. That’s what he always called me, and my heart starts to truly beat for the first time in an age.

  He sinks to his knees, as if he were praying. “Oh God.” His voice is still low, as filled with incredulity as is my entire mind. He looks unfocused, confused, broken, and he reaches out for me, his hands on my hips, then around my back. His muscled arms are warm and alive. “Finally…God…am I…God, please…

  “…am I finally dead?”

  Maybe he is.

  Maybe we both actually are. But if this is what dead is like, it beats the hell out of the life I’ve been living lately.

  SIXTEEN

  EMMA Frost forced herself to detach from the emotions roiling through her mind. In the past, before Scott entered her life, that would have been easy. Then her life and Scott’s had become intertwined. She had let down her guard despite every instinct to the contrary, and now she actually had to force herself to mentally take a step back so she could assess the situation…something that was harder than it should have been because of her feelings for Scott, who was lying there injured. For half a heartbeat she allowed herself to wonder if her relationship with Scott was a liability, weakening rather than strengthening her. Then she pushed the notion away as unacceptable, and focused on the situation at hand.

  Wolverine was down, unmoving. The Beast was snarling as he faced the armored figures. Clearly he wanted to attack, but knew he was targeted and would have been shot to pieces before he could make a move.

  “On your knees, Cookie Monster,” growled one of the soldiers, “or I swear to God I’ll kill you.”

  The Beast visibly struggled, torn, ready to make a suicidal lunge. Then he appeared to think better of it and sank to his knees as instructed.

  Abruptly Emma heard a female voice shouting, filled with outrage and alarm. “What is this?! Let me through!” The sheer fury radiating from the woman was enough to make the soldiers step to the side, allowing her through.

  Emma’s thoughts speared out at her. This was Kavita Rao: the enemy incarnate, the woman in the process of trying to destroy their lives. Emma planned to rip her memories right out of her gray matter and crush them like grapes, then savor the taste of the newly created wine.

  But instead Emma felt her thoughts turned away, as effortlessly as a flitting moth.

  The guard turned toward Rao. “This is a hostile zone, Doctor. Is your scrambler—?”

  “It’s on. Now move.”

  So Rao’s mind was protected by the same device that shielded the soldiers. They have no natural talents in a fight, Emma thought angrily, so they have to depend upon artificial means to defend themselves. Big guns, scramblers. They don’t hate us because they’re afraid of us. They hate us because they’re jealous of us.

  Kavita Rao pushed past the soldiers and saw the X-Men clearly for the first time. Cyclops on the floor, the Beast on his knees with a huge gun pointed at his head to make sure he didn’t move. Wolverine also lying on the floor, recovering from the bullet holes that had been pumped into him.

  Rao turned to the soldiers, appalled. “You fired on them?”

  “Man, the lady is sharp,” Wolverine managed to say.

  “Watch this one in particular,” said the foremost of the guards, indicating Wolverine.

  “Yeah…watch real real close,” said Wolverine.

  Stand down, Emma’s voice sounded in his head.

  Screw that. I can take these guys…

  Not before bullets start flying, and you’re the only one here with a healing factor. Hank was about to attack and I just talked him out of it; now you damned well stay put before I make you stay put. Clear?

  A pause.

  Wolverine…

  Fine. Fine.

  Having attended to one situation, however tenuously, Emma turned her attention to other matters. Indicating Cyclops, she said, “I need to get this man home.”

  Rao went to a cabinet on the wall. She pulled open the doors, revealing first-aid supplies. She removed bandages and what appeared to be a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. Pointing at the squad leader, she ordered, “One of you call in our med team.”

  The soldier didn’t move. He just smirked. Obviously a dying mutant wasn’t worth wasting a physician on.

  “You realize I have the authority to fire you, right?” said Doctor Rao.

  He glowered, and then went to an emergency phone on the wall. He picked it up and informed whoever was on the other end that a med team was required immediately.

  Meanwhile Rao was unwrapping the gauze, preparing to apply it to Cyclops’ wounds. “A Band-Aid’s going to do sweet F.A., Doctor,” said Emma.

  “We have qualified surgeons not two buildings down…”

  “And we have a healer at home,” Emma countered.

  “They’re not going anywhere,” the squad leader announced. “These people are trespassing in a top-security area. If they got themselves shot up, that’s their own lookout. They should have known better—”

  “We got ourselves shot up?” Give me thirty seconds with them without their precious scramblers. I’ll make sure they spend the rest of their lives in agony every time they take a piss. “What do you think happened here? We threw ourselves on your bullets, which just happened to be floating there? You shot us when we were ready to leave.”

  “You broke in. You don’t get to decide you’re ready to leave.”

  And they’ll only be able to move their bowels when they’re standing near a telephone pole. Like the dogs they are.
r />   Rao was kneeling next to Emma, cleaning Cyclops’ wounds, bandaging them quickly and efficiently. Emma noticed the bud of the scrambler device in Rao’s ear.

  “I promise, I have no intention of hurting you,” said Rao.

  “Long as you’ve got that scrambler device in your left ear, I can’t know what you intend.”

  Rao indicated one of Cyclops’ still-bleeding wounds. “Put pressure on that.” She glanced toward the Beast, who remained frozen in place, just as he had been when she first walked in. “Is Doctor McCoy all right? He—”

  “He has a disease, if you recall.” Emma pressed down on Cyclops’ wound; the bleeding was slowing down. “An inexplicable aversion to being shot at.”

  “I never authorized this kind of force,” said Rao. “I don’t want anyone hurt. That’s the whole point.”

  “Nothing but noble intentions, yes. You’re a veritable Oppenheimer. What’s next? Eliminating the gay gene?”

  “Homosexuality doesn’t represent a threat to human existence.”

  “We’re clearly watching different televangelists,” Emma said drily. “Not to mention different debates in the political arenas. At some point a candidate is going to run for president on a platform of forbidding gay mutants to marry, and they’ll win in a landslide.”

  “I’d vote for him,” said the squad leader.

  “Shut up,” said Rao.

  Emma glanced around. “Where the hell is that med team? Are they even coming?”

  “I’m sure they’re on their way,” said Rao. “As for your opinions, Miss Frost, I respect your concerns—”

  “Yes, I can see the respect with which we’re being treated. Careful you don’t get any of this man’s blood on you; you might catch what we have.”

  “—but the world needs this cure. Nothing you say or do is going to change that fact.”

  Now, said Emma, but silently and not to Rao.

  Then a blue-furred hand clamped onto Rao’s throat.

  The Beast moved so quickly that he caught Kavita Rao completely off guard. One moment he had been crouched over, seemingly harmless, even bowed in terror. The next he was snarling in her face, teeth bared, yellow eyes glowing with fury and hatred. At that moment he wasn’t recognizable as anything that could have once been a rational man.

  Rao stared into the face of the Beast, and there was stark terror in her eyes.

  The soldiers immediately leveled their massive guns. “Down! Put her down! Do it now!”

  “Or what?” Emma said, thoroughly enjoying the show. “You’ll open fire? Those weapons are built for shock and awe; you’ll riddle her with bullets along with him.”

  The squad leader shifted his attention to Emma. “Fine. Then he lets her go or we kill you.” And he swung his guns around to face Emma.

  I’ll kill ’em first, Wolverine’s voice sounded in Emma’s head.

  Stay in reserve, Logan. I swear to you, you’ll get your chance.

  Aloud, she said haughtily to the squad leader, “Yes, by all means, you do that. Having nothing to lose, he’ll then break her neck. And you get to explain to your superiors how a situation you could have handled peacefully escalated into the death of their star researcher.”

  “Shut up,” snarled the Beast. “All of you!”

  He dragged Rao over to the table where the corpse of the young mutant lay right where it had been. “The world needs this cure, Kavita?” He yanked the thin sheet away from the female corpse on the table. She lay there naked and vulnerable, almost painful to look at. Rao tried to turn away, but the Beast grabbed her head from behind and forced her to look. “Did she need it? Did this girl need your cure?”

  Her glasses askew, Kavita managed to say, “Hank…this girl was already dead. She killed herself…”

  “Who else?” Beast said tightly. “I need to hear it from you, Kavita. Who else have you been cutting up?”

  “I…” She adjusted her glasses. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Did you think I wouldn’t have the DNA on file, Doctor? The trace strands that I found in your sample?”

  “What DNA?” Kavita genuinely sounded lost. “This girl’s…?”

  “Don’t fence with me, Kavita, I’m not in the mood. You know whose DNA. An individual with transformative powers…who could switch from a mutant form to what you would call ‘normal.’ A good starting point for what you wanted to accomplish.”

  The guards were trying to angle around, find a shot that wouldn’t endanger Rao. Beast’s back was to them, but his ears were twitching. He effortlessly adjusted his position, keeping Rao in the line of fire.

  Emma reached out with her mind. Logan…you good to go?

  You know I am. What’s the play?

  They have those scramblers in their left ears. I would far prefer that they did not.

  Not just a straight up slice-and-dice? You’re not makin’ it easy, Frost.

  Too much of a challenge?

  No. But there’s three of them, one of me, and their guns are ready. I’m fast, but I could use a distraction. Especially if we wanna minimize bullets flying.

  I’ll see what I can do.

  “Hank, I swear on my life—” Rao pleaded.

  “Which is, at the moment, in my hands.”

  “—that I have no idea…” Her voice choked. It was a struggle to get out the rest. “…no idea what the hell you’re talking about!”

  To Emma, it almost sounded true. This woman was a scientist, not an actress.

  Obviously, the Beast felt similarly. It drove him to a startling realization. “My God,” he said, “you’re a sham. You had help. Someone else was doing the heavy lifting on the research. Who was it, Kavita?” His voice escalated to a full-blown roar. “Who are you covering for? Who’s the real brains behind your precious cure? Who was the devil you struck your bargain with?”

  Kavita couldn’t respond. Her mouth was open, but she was making little “urkh” noises and trying to shake her head.

  Then Emma felt a gentle caress of fingers upon her hand. “Emma,” Cyclops whispered, so softly that only she could hear him.

  Her heart leaped with joy, but she kept her attention fixed on Beast and Rao. She didn’t want to give any hint that Cyclops had regained consciousness.

  Scott, darling. Don’t try to talk, her thoughts sounded in his head.

  The edges of his mouth twitched in an approximation of a smile. You really got scared. I can feel it when you think at me. It’s very sweet. Now…patch me in to the others.

  Very well. Logan…Hank…I have Scott for you on line two. Go ahead, Scott.

  “Hank,” Rao was saying desperately. “You know the only way to help further research is to work on the dead. I’m trying to create a world where this girl would never think of taking her own life. But since she already had—”

  Hank, when I give the order, take Rao down to the floor. I want her out of the line of fire, friendly or otherwise.

  Beast nodded. “I gotcha,” he said aloud. “Good.”

  “What?” Rao blinked in confusion.

  Logan…?

  Just waiting on you, Slowpoke.

  Cyclops opened his eyes. The ruby quartz shield of his visor glowed red. Then let’s show these Battlebot rejects who they’re dealing with. GO!

  An optic blast ripped across the room, the air sizzling as it passed. It struck all three guards simultaneously, blasting them off their feet with enough concussive force to flatten a herd of elephants.

  Beast shoved Rao down, landing on top of her, flattening her to the floor. His right foot accidentally hooked onto the corpse of the unknown mutant on the table and dragged it down with them.

  The guards, filled with fear and terror, were at their most dangerous, likely to just start shooting wild. With all those bullets flying, they would inevitably hit something. Each other. Emma. Cyclops. The Beast or Rao, even though he was shielding her with his body.

  Wolverine immediately took care of that possibility.

  He
leaped upon the guards, his claws flashing. He sliced through their guns, shattering the mechanisms. Bullet shells tumbled out of ammunition casings without being fired.

  But Wolverine knew the guards might have other weapons on them. He had no intention of allowing those weapons to be used.

  Logan, Scott’s voice sounded in his head, you need to…

  Emma already gave me my marching orders. They get the Van Gogh treatment.

  And he thrust forward with his claws.

  The soldiers’ ears were covered with white-noise units to protect their hearing from the deafening clattering of gunfire. Wolverine didn’t waste time being delicate. He slashed, and his claws sliced away not only the white-noise units over the men’s ears, but also the ears themselves. The guards screamed, nearly in unison, as blood began to pour down the sides of their heads. Their ears lay on the floor, nothing more than small pieces of freshly severed meat.

  “And that would be the end of the scramblers,” said Emma calmly as the guards staggered, grasping at the sides of their heads, moaning in anguish. “Well, here’s some good news: You feel no pain. Now…pick up your ears…don’t get them mixed up, because that could hamper getting them reattached.”

  They did as she bade, peeling their respective ears off the floor and placing them carefully in pouches on their uniforms.

  The Beast got to his feet, pushing the corpse of the young, dead mutant girl onto Rao, who squirmed under the weight. Emma considered that extremely rude. She also thought it appropriate.

  “Does the five-second rule apply to body parts?” asked Wolverine.

  “Yes,” said Emma. “Now, stand at attention.”